


Apathtale

by CrimDemon



Category: Apathtale, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Apath, Depleting Emotions, Nine Lives, Other, Seven Souls, Sorrow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-21 21:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16584371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimDemon/pseuds/CrimDemon
Summary: In this reality, being in Mount Ebott without much sun has caused much unwanted feelings. Feelings like sorrow, anger, regret, desperation. All of these feelings, are what many monsters feel. But, they don't seem to have the worst of it. With every reset or reload the main character endures or does willingly, the more stoic they will become. Until they have no emotions left. This leaves them a walking husk of a person. Since he in the only one that can remember each RESET clearly, these instances affect Sans greatly.In place of LV for Frisk, there is instead the label "LLL: x9". An indicator for something else.





	1. A Dark Hour

Frisk had ran away from a couple of older kids to MT. Ebott, running there to hide as he normally did. But this time the two had chased the boy all the way to the top of the mountain.

He tried his best to shake the older kids off, but soon he was halted by the sight of a massive hole in the mountain. Frisk's eyes widened at the sight, slowly walking back from it. But the kids followed him, preventing the boy from moving past them.

"Ha! We got you right where we want you!" the leader of the two kids smirked at the child, hands on the side of his hips. The other kid spoke up, "You should have stayed down there; I heard other kids have gotten lost in this mountain."

The look on the leader’s face made Frisk tremble a little. It was a smile, but not the kind of smile that held compassion or even one that was held by a joker. No. It was a smile of someone that had vile intent. The older boy walked slowly to Frisk and snickered under his breath. The second boy glanced at his friend wide-eyed, grabbing his friend’s hand.

“Wh-what are you doing?” the chubbier of the two asked, frowning at his “friend” as the taller of the two pulled his arm away. “I thought you just wanted to scare him a little.” The leader smirked and kept his focus on Frisk. Despite the other child’s questions, the bully kept walking. As he got closer, Frisk walked backwards, dangerously close to the opening of the mountain.

The bully scoffed at the boy’s reaction. He glanced to the other kid’s direction, laughing victoriously, “And I’m doing just that, so ease off.” He turned back to the young boy and grabbed the collar of his shirt. The leader picked up Frisk with ease and held him right over the hole; this caused his friend to start panicking. “Hey!” he said with a shaky voice. “If you do that, you might drop him!”

The bully giggled.

“That’s fine with me.”

His thoughts were dark and cold. Frisk, this brat… Everyone in town liked him. Why? This kid was just like the other kids he knew. Frisk was just a pushover; everyone who had a brain knew that. His parents were smart for leaving such a freak at a foster home. But, why did it have to be in HIS foster home?

Then, a thought struck him.

This little kid didn’t have “real friends”, didn’t have anyone that would really miss him. The bully didn’t hesitate as he quickly let go of Frisk’s shirt and watched him fall. He thought if the fall didn’t kill him, then the fabled monsters would.

The other kid yelled and tried to grab Frisk before he fell in, but the leader grabbed the chubby kid’s shirt as well. “Don’t help him, unless you want to be a hero and hop in yourself,” the leader said, the smile still lingering on his face as he stared at the falling child. The chubbier bully frowned and looked to the hole in the mountain, feeling like he was an accomplice of a murder.

~

Pain.

Pain was the last thing Frisk could remember. A loud thud, pain, and then silence. Am I dead? Did I fall to my death? He struggled to open his eyes, or maybe, he didn’t want to open them at all. He was afraid to open them.

He could slightly feel his left eye tingling.

A shiver ran up his spine as he felt cool air brush against his back. This time, Frisk found the courage to open his eyes, blinking slowly. It was rather dark, save for the light of the moon right above him peeking out through the opening. The boy stared up and watched the moon. The sight of it was quite blurred.

So it was nighttime. Frisk had been out cold for a while, it seemed.

Frisk placed his hand on the collar of his shirt, remembering the scene that played out before passing out. Two boys from his foster home chased him to the fabled mountain as usual, but they kept going after him. The taller, or leader of the two, tried to scare him, and then… Frisk shook his head at the memory. He wanted to push that as far within his mind as he could.

The boy glanced around at his surroundings. He barely made out anything beyond the light of the opening. He glanced down and noticed yellow petals under him, then noticing a lot covering his clothes. Frisk brushed them away with his left hand and huffed softly. He felt like an idiot for not bringing his flashlight. Maybe he still had that small flashlight he stole back from that bully from earlier.

He attempted to push his right hand into his pocket.

But as he moved his arm to get to his pocket, Frisk was met with a sharp pain. It hurt to move his arm. It hurt so much that it made him tighten his eyes shut and bite at his bottom lip. It was the first time he felt that much pain. Even his left eye was slowly starting to hurt, but it didn’t feel as bad as his arm.

Maybe… adrenaline had kicked in when he fell? Maybe it was starting to wear off.

His right eye started to become clear, though everything was still blurry out of the hurting eye. The boy just thought it was from falling, so he didn’t pay it too much mind. Frisk closed the hurting eye and took a long breath. He returned his thoughts back to the small crisis that was boiling up inside him.

He called out for someone. But, the only thing to met him was silence…

Frisk frowned and slowly stood up from where he fell into Mount Ebott. He sighed softly with relief as his legs moved without any issue, even if both of them were asleep. He was happy that he didn’t break his legs from the fall, too.

He held his right arm with his left, keeping it in place to avoid more pain. He didn’t want to leave the comfort of the moon’s light. But if he stayed there, he feared the kids who chased him up the mountain would come back to finish him off. So, Frisk started to walk forward and hoped to find someone down there to help him.

Frisk called out again.

The boy’s voice echoed through a tunnel. It looked like a cave entrance, but it was too dark to tell. He continued to call for someone to help him, but all he heard for a long moment was his footsteps against what sounded like rock or gravel. But, soon Frisk started to hear a familiar crunch under his shoes. It felt and sounded like grass, which made him relieved.

Grass and flowers. If they were down there, maybe people were, too.

The boy’s spirit rose slightly as he pressed on. However, when he thought more about it, he began to feel terrified. All those stories he’s heard about, about MT. Ebott, suddenly flooded into his mind. Frisk had heard one particular story about how monsters in the mountain would swallow children whole and regurgitate their bones to use as tools.

At the time, Frisk didn’t believe a word. But, now that he was there, in the dark, alone, he couldn’t help his overactive imagination.

Frisk almost jumped and halted suddenly at the sound of something or someone speaking. Frisk almost fell forward at the suddenness. The voice came from the area by his feet, and the voice was rather high-pitched. “Hey!” he heard. “Down here!”

The boy glanced down and squinted his open eye to make out the figure. What he saw surprised him, but he was hurting a little too much to think of it thoroughly. “Howdy! I’m Flowey. Flowey th--” The small flower in front of Frisk cut himself off.

The flower looked at Frisk’s body, a quick concern in his small black eyes. “Oh, golly,” it said. “You took quite a big fall, huh?” The state the child was in actually gave him a scare. But, he tried not to let it show. Flowey huffed softly and looked to the side. He was quiet for a moment, but soon looked back and forced a smile. He was actually glad that he didn’t have to say that line again to another human.

“If you’re injured, I know someone who can heal you,” Flowey said as his eyes stared up at the human. “Or at least get that arm patched up. And your ey--” He paused again, grimacing at the sight of the human’s left eye.

Frisk asked him what was wrong.

Flowey’s head was starting to droop before it shot up as he gave Frisk a fake glare. “N-Nothing is wrong,” he barked, before he sighed. “Just, wait here while I go and bring her here.” The flower forced another smile and stared a moment longer. He then turned from where he was rooted and disappeared into the ground. Luckily the human’s good eye was adjusting so it was easier to see what was in front of him.

He waited like he was told. But, being in still dark room with nothing but his breathing to break the silence was starting to get to him. Even though some of the adults didn’t consider him a “child” anymore, he was still very afraid of the dark.

He was turning to go back the safety of the the moon, but he stopped. After a moment, he started hearing two voices talking in the distance.

The boy felt some anxiety melt away. Voices, even if not real, comforted him to a point.

Frisk heard crunching and footsteps approaching him. He was at first surprised to not see Flowey coming back to meet him, but a woman. And he was slowly walking up to her, but he soon saw that she had features… that were very goat-like. He froze as he stared up at her. Frisk felt paralyzed as the story he once heard returned once again to his head. He was not sure whether he should run away or say something. He was too afraid to do either.

The being in front of him broke the silence, causing him to stumble out of fright. Dropping to the ground didn’t feel great. He winced as he clenched his teeth, readjusting so his right arm didn’t was being held by his left again.

The goat woman’s eyes widened at the reaction and the impact. “Oh, dear…” She slowly held out her large hand for Frisk to take.

“Please, no need to fear me, my child” she spoke softly, afraid that whatever injuries the flower had told her about gotten worse. She was also concerned that she had scared him that badly. “I am Toriel, caretaker of the ru-- what’s left of the ruins…” She waited for him to take her hand, but when tried to get closer, he retreated and moved some inches from her. Toriel hurt at the response, but she understood. She was sure humans still didn’t give monsters a good name.

Toriel looked away for a moment as she cleared her throat. “I… apologize for scaring you,” she said as she smiled kindly at Frisk. “I’m sure I’m scary to look at.” She let out a small chuckle. Frisk finally mustered the courage to speak, albeit his words were rather quiet.

He asked her if she was going to eat him and use his bones as a toothpick.

Her eyes widened up again. “Is that what they’ve been telling the children now?” Frisk reluctantly nodded his head, causing Toriel to sigh sadly. She looked away from him. Her eyes looked soft with some distance to them, as if she was deep in thought. Frisk slowly and carefully stood up from the ground.

He tilted his head and stared up at Toriel curiously. To him, she seemed very sad. From what the other kids mentioned, monsters don’t feel stuff like humans do. At least that’s what they’ve told each other. He wondered if maybe that wasn’t true.

He always thought he was decent at judge someone’s character. And this woman, monster she may be, had the look of someone in pain of a sort.

Something caught Frisk’s eye as he glanced down. His eyes widened at the sight of her right hand, a small but bright fire whirling above it. The goat woman’s gaze returned to Frisk and noticed he was staring at the fire. She smiled nervously. “Don’t worry, my child,” she whispered again. “This fire will not burn you.” She knelt down to his eye level as she held out her hand.

Curious, Frisk reached out with his right hand without thinking.

But, it hurt…

Frisk quickly retracted his hand and held his arm close again. Toriel gasped softly and reached over with her left hand, trying to examine his arm. Before she could look, the boy moved away from her to avoid any contact. She frowned and mumbled something to herself under her breath. She had been so caught up in thinking that she forgot about the boy’s injuries. With that knowledge, she understood why he was keeping his distance.

Toriel glanced up, thoroughly processing the damage to his right eye now that she was close and at eye level. She thought silently for a moment, but smiled again at Frisk. “Alright, I won’t touch just yet, but… will you follow me so I can bandage you up at least?”

Frisk really felt like he had much choice. He looked his shoulder at where he first fell, wondering if he should go back and wait. Or if he should go with a stranger, who was also a monster, and hope that all of the stories were untrue. He took a deep breath and he reluctantly nodded.

At the moment, he just wanted the pain to go away. If that meant going with someone he didn’t know, he didn’t mind. As long as the pain could leave him. He would deal with it as it came. The fire moved to Toriel’s left hand as she stood back up, holding out her other hand to the boy. “You should stay close, my child,” said the goat monster. “Since it is night, it’s darker here in the ruins.”

“You don’t want to stumble around with a broken arm, do you?”

She was right. Frisk didn’t want to accidentally hurt himself more. “Oh. And try to be quiet, little one,” she spoke. “Most of the monsters are sleeping.”

Frisk nodded once more and slowly grabbed, not Toriel’s hand, but the sleeve of her dress. He didn’t trust the goat lady that much, so he didn’t want to get too familiar with her just yet. The monster stared at him for a moment. She then turned and held out her arm for him as they walked through the darkness of the ruins.

~

Frisk couldn’t stop looking at the monsters that were sleeping peacefully around him and Toriel. They stirred a little as they passed by them. One of them lifted their eyelids to look at what was making the sound of the unfamiliar footsteps. They were curious as to why they heard an extra pair.

It was a Whimsun that had been woken up as they glanced over to Toriel and the human. They were too sleepy to go and investigate, so they merely closed their eyes to go back to sleep. Maybe the figure behind the goat woman would appear again.

It did not take Toriel and Frisk too long to get to the humble house. She had mentioned something about puzzles, but when she told him about them, she did the puzzles herself. Every single one. He was grateful, but he was a little disappointed that he didn’t get to do the puzzles that interested the most. He just shrugged it off and smiled as the two passed a bed of red leaves.

She did remind him somewhat of a mother figure. Though, he was getting a bit annoyed at the “hand-holding”.

Toriel went on ahead of Frisk. She told him to wait until she got her lights on in the house. As he waited, he glanced to the side. He noticed a star-like object floating. Frisk tilted his head and walked to the object. Old habits never die. He had the urge to grab it, as if by a driving force was telling him to. Frisk held his hand out and gently touched the object.

Frisk felt a tingling sensation in his chest as he cupped his hand around the object.

It felt draining, and yet comforting.

He became more interested, and confused, as a box of text appeared in front of him. { _'Thinking that the teenagers' and adults' stories aren't true fills you with DETERMINATION.'_  } It showed him many things: his name, his location, the time that had past, and…

What is that?

There was a x9 next to a few letters labelled “LLL”. It instantly reminded him of those math problems no one liked. Algebra, right? He didn’t really have a bad issue with it, despite it’s confusing nature. Frisk shook his head at the thought and chuckled. His mind was too close to drifting elsewhere.

He then tapped his finger to the last thing he noticed, out of what he felt was impulse: a button with “SAVE” on it.

He felt odd about pushing it. But, he just laughed softly and huffed as he let go of the star and quickly pulled his hand away. The box of text disappeared as soon as he did right before his eyes as he heard Toriel call for him, grabbing his attention away from the star. Maybe he was hallucinating that. He was still tired, so that had to be it.

Frisk couldn’t get the label “LLL: x9” out of his head, but he pushed the thought away as he began to walk into Toriel’s house. He was sure the text was nothing he needed to worry about.


	2. Loss of the FIGHT

When Frisk stepped into the goat monster's house, his eyes widened slightly. It was immediately warm inside and smelled like sweets. That was something very new to him, and something very pleasant. Before he could even admire the cozy interior of the monster’s home, a low growl echoed from his stomach.

Toriel was in what looked like a living room of sorts, a hint of focus in her eyes. She noticed the human as his stomach growled, her eyes drifting over. The goat monster had to try her hardest not to laugh at the noise. Toriel found the noise quite adorable. “Oh, my…” she chuckled again. “Are you hungry, my child?”

Frisk told Toriel he could eat a cow. ...She didn’t seem to like that metaphor.

Toriel stared at the boy for a long moment, smiling nervously. “Why don’t I just give you a piece of pie I just baked after I fix you up?” she asked him. She hurried to the hallway on the right and looked through some drawers. Toriel huffed and walked further down the hallway, heading into a room in the far back.

Just as Frisk was turning to go somewhere else, the goat woman returned with a kit that seemed too small for her hands. She smiled at him as she walked passed him and pulled one of the chairs from the dining table. She turned the chair and motioned for him to come towards her, “Could you sit here please?” Frisk narrowed his eyes and found himself backing up, but after a moment he took a deep breath and walked towards Toriel.

As asked, he sat down on the chair, making sure to keep his right arm as still as he could. Toriel seemed pleased as she reached up to his left eye and carefully placed just two fingers on it. Frisk flinched and bit his lip to stop a whimper from escaping his mouth. She must have noticed.

“I’m sorry, dear one, but the pain will be gone soon… I promise…”

Frisk almost didn’t like that wording, but he stayed calm. His version of calm anyway. For a moment, he was confused because she wasn’t doing anything. Then slowly out of the corner of his right eye, he saw a light green glow coming from her fingertips. After that, the pain in his eye slowly melted away. Then Toriel placed her hand over his arm, and again, pain was zapped from him.

Toriel sighed softly with relief and placed the first aid kit down on the table beside her. She pulled out a few things Frisk had seen some doctors on the surface use. First, she disinfected what of the wound was left around his left eye, then she placed a makeshift eye patch over it so he wouldn’t try to mess with it much.

Second, she wrapped a sling around the side of his neck and gently looped his arm through, before a smile spread on her face again. “There, I can’t fix a broken bone, but I can help it from getting more broken at least.

Toriel stood up and pushed the kit towards the middle of the table. She hurried along and went into the kitchen, leaving Frisk to his devices as he looked dumbfounded at the state of his arm. As the goat monster left for the kitchen, Frisk shook away the awe as he walked to the dining area that was connected to the living room.

His attention then drifted to a bookshelf that stood in the corner. The boy walked over to the books and rolled up his long sleeves as he started take the first book he saw. He recoiled for a moment, feeling dust stain his hand. Many of the books were like that. Frisk reached back for the book and pulled it out as he turned to the dining table, surprised to already see Toriel standing by the chair with its back facing the living room.

“Here you go, my child.”

The goat monster smiled at the him as she put down the plate and fork, but quickly turned her head from him. She walked away and sat on a large chair near a softly lit fireplace. Frisk placed the book down and sat down at the dining table as the monster pulled out a book from the side of the chair and placed on her glasses. He sighed softly and grabbed the fork as he stuck it in the pie. He opened his mouth and pushed the fork into it. It was a quick burst of flavor that he almost spit it out from surprise.

It tasted better than anything he had eaten at the orphanage.

Frisk couldn’t help but start to stuff his face with the pie Toriel made, almost making himself choke. “Please be careful, young one,” the boy heard the monster say. She must have taken notice at the sudden appetite and gorging. He took a deep breath and tried to control himself, eating the pie at a slower pace. It was still fast, but at least Frisk was chewing his food. Now he was able to get the full flavor.

Toriel seemed pleased, and relieved.

The goat monster continued to watch him contently eat. Her eyes widened for a long moment before she turned her head from the boy, stuffing her nose into the book in front of her. It was a book of snail recipes that had little jokes to the side of each one.

Toriel silently chuckled at one of them, her dark eyes looking back to Frisk as she spoke up, “My child, why is the snail the strongest animal?” Frisk finished the pie as he looked back to Toriel and tilted his head when he tried to think of the answer. He soon shrugged.

He asked Toriel why.

Toriel’s eyes shined for a brief moment. “Because he carries a house on his back!” She chuckled a little louder, but the human noticed it was a little forced. To be polite, he laughed as well and smiled at her. She was so nice, but never seemed to be very genuine.

Frisk got out of the chair and pushed it under the table when he was off of it, grabbing the book as he went. He walked over to Toriel until she halted him. “My child, if you would like…” she started as she stood up and walked off towards the hallway, stopping at a door. He followed her, staring up at her as she opened the door to a dark room before turning on the light. “...you may stay here a while.”

His eyes widened as he heard this, shock in his eyes. Toriel noticed his expression and laughed softly. “Well, having fallen down, you do want to rest up a bit, right?”

Frisk nodded and excessively started to thank her.

The goat monster blushed and laughed again, patting the boy’s head. She started to leave him, but she turned back to Frisk. “Oh, one more thing, young one.” Toriel reached into one of the pockets of her dress, taking something out. His good eye looked down as she pulled out what looked like a chain with a pendant on it. “Your flower friend told me that he found this when he looked where you fell, so he told me you might have dropped it.”

The goat monster knelt and looped the chain around Frisk’s neck as he glanced down at it. “With something this beautiful, it’d be a shame to lose it.”

Frisk stared at the pendant, seeing now that it was heart-shaped with seven different colors.

Frisk looked up at Toriel and thanked her for… returning the gift. Though, he wasn’t even sure if he had a necklace like this. The boy decided to keep it, making the the goat monster smile again. “You’re welcome, innocent one,” she said, “If you need me, I will just be in the living room.” Though she was smiling, her eyes were dull like before.

And just like that, she walked off.

The boy shrugged and walked into the room. It did seem bright and warm, but it seemed too bright. The monster woman wore dark colors, yet everything in this room was… colorful. Frisk shook his head and looked through some of the furniture.

Frisk looked through the drawers of the dresser, but he pushed each back as he just saw clothes.

The boy glanced around the rest of the room, scanning the room for something to tinker with. He didn’t find anything to his interest. Even the toys were too “young” for Frisk. But, then he remembered the book in his hand. He lifted the book with his good arm to examine it. The name was odd, and it felt as big as a novel: Fluffy Bunny Finds His Heart.

Frisk only read the first two sentences, but he was already hooked. He would have to read some of it after he rested for a while. Then, the human could read it and explore the Ruins. Maybe he could find the flower that had helped him earlier. Maybe Frisk could bring him a gift for helping him. He then looked back to the book, as he crawled onto the bed and carefully laid on it. The boy narrowed his eye as he placed the book down next to him and placed his head on the soft pillow.

He wondered if the small flower liked to read as he closed his good eye to sleep.

~

The human was on the ledge of MT. Ebott. He looked down at the contents below him as two muffled voices argued with each other, both voices echoing away from him. The only thing that Frisk was worried about was the mouth in the mountain. And something that sounded like, “Help them.”

Frisk didn’t know if he was hearing things, but it did sound like a child that had said it. Before he could speak out to the voice and reply, he felt a push at his back. It didn’t feel hard enough to really push him into the mountain and he felt light as a feather, but down he went.

The gaping hole in MT. Ebott started to swallow him whole as he turned enough to try and see the culprits. But the black consumed him and blinded him. The dark was slowly shoving its way into the human’s throat, digging and choking him from the inside.

Then, he felt it. It was a harsh crack and thud that ended with pain moving throughout his body. Tears started to stream down the boy’s face, crying and holding his hands to his eyes. It was an effort just to do that. It was painful… It’s more painful than what he had ever endured. Adrenaline didn’t even kick in when he hit the ground. Or what he assumed was the ground.

He screamed for someone or something to help him. But...

Frisk’s body was starting to go stiff and his breathing was getting shallower. It felt like something was stepping on his chest, and causing him misery. At the moment in time, even just a little bit, he wanted to die right there.

He then felt a shake and heard a voice. It was frantic and worrisome.

~

Frisk’s eye shot open as he flailed his arms around. He couldn’t get a scream out, but he was whimpering and crying. “Hey, wake up, alright!” The voice was both disgruntled and remorseful, to a point.

Frisk started to relax as he slowly realized he was in bed, and that a flower had made his way into the room the boy slept in. “That’s right, calm down.” The flower was at the side of the bed, holding the boy’s left arm.

Flowey slowly pulled away as he looked to the side for a moment, moving away from Frisk. He waited until he rubbed his eyes to wake himself up more. “Sorry for uhh… waking you up this early,” the flower said, his gaze returning to the human. “I thought you should wake up though, since you were crying and thrashing around in your sleep.” His dark petals moved slightly as his head lowered down. “You must have been having a nightmare…”

Frisk nodded as he wiped his head of sweat.

Frisk didn’t remember how long ago he had such a vivid nightmare, especially one that made him feel pain like that. He shook his head and moved to a sitting position on the bed, his feet dangling over it. The human asked Flowey what he was doing in that room. “Well, if you must know,” the flower cleared his throat and huffed, “I came here to ask you if you want to leave. ...The mountain.” Leave? But, the boy just got there. And he didn’t get to really meet the other monsters.

He asked Flowey why.

“‘Why’? What do you mean ‘why’?” he asked as he silently growled. Frisk told Flowey some reasons why he didn’t want to get out of the mountain just yet. He seemed surprised to hear the answer he heard. “I… guess that’s an okay reason to think that.”

The flower huffed again and smiled at the boy, mixed emotions seeming to come out from his eyes. “Then will you allow me to give you advice about your predicament?”

Frisk nodded again. Surely he didn’t need it, but it was good to listen anyway.

Flowey looked towards the door as he opened his mouth to speak. “I wouldn’t completely put trust in the monsters here.” He continued to stare at the door as Frisk moved off of the bed and knelt on the floor, tilting his head. The flower turned to him as he hopped off of the mattress, his smile now nervous. “The monsters here would turn on you in a heartbeat if you give them the chance. And this is only the tip of the iceberg; there’s more to the mountain if you go through a door in the basement.”

Frisk asked Flowey why he was telling him this.

The flower hit his face with one of his leaves, opening his mouth again. “Because if you stay here long enough, you may get hurt by the locals here,” he shot back. That seemed like a stretch to Frisk. He told Flowey that he didn’t think they would harm him.

Toriel wouldn’t have helped him if she was going to just hurt him. That didn’t make sense, right? “You can believe me or not if you want to,” Flowey smiled and whispered softly. “I just wanted to warn you about them.”

“Kindness is not always genuine, so be wary.”

Flowey turned from Frisk and stared at the door, then looked over. “I’ll be very close, just in case you need me,” he said as he slipped underneath the bed, moving past a crack in the floor. Frisk just stood there for a moment and thought silently to himself. Was Flowey telling him the truth? He wondered this as he stood up and stepped close to the door, ready to head towards the set of stairs that lead down.

Frisk took a deep breath and opened the door, being as quiet as possible. He didn’t want to alert the goat monster. Frisk slowly took a look in both directions, but darkness greeted him. The only thing he saw was a small night light across from his door. Probably for the human in case he got up for a glass of water.

Frisk smiled slightly and tiptoed down the hallway as his eyes fairly adjusted to the dark. He was lucky that Toriel didn’t have much stuff in her home, albeit an umbrella stand beside the front door. He glanced over to the right of the entrance room as he got to it.

That was the basement, right? That lead to the rest of the mountain?

The human stared at the stairs for a second, but his attention darted to the front door. Something in him drug his feet to it, and made him open it. His eye fell on the star-shaped object next to the house. The boy stared for a moment longer, but soon walked over to the object.

Just like before, the human felt like his energy was leaving his body when he touched the star, then felt a soft warmth. Like the feeling one gets after taking a bath at night. He then saw the text box open up and read the time. It seemed like more, but only an hour and a half had passed. Other than that, there was nothing different about it. Even when he had touched the “Save” button on accident, nothing seemed to change.

He pulled his hand away and returned to the inside of the home. Frisk slowly pulled the door closed, hoping that the monster woman didn’t hear the latch click. He waited for a moment for her to appear and scold him.

When Toriel didn’t come, Frisk let out his breath he didn’t know he was holding and walked back to the stairs. It had to be the basement. He walked down the stairs without turning on the light and started his search for the door Flowey mentioned. As if alerted by Frisk’s exploration, the flower appeared in front of him. “So you decided to come down here after all, huh?” the flower asked.

Flowey stared up at Frisk and seemed to make a small shrug when he didn’t get an answer. “Must have been curiosity, then,” Flowey guessed, giving the boy a ‘come on’ gesture. Flowey turned and appeared then disappeared rapidly, getting further away from Frisk. That was a sign for him to hurry after the flower.

Frisk started to run after Flowey, and had almost caught up with him. But, when he was a foot behind, something hit him in the spine.

It was nothing at first, but soon he felt an intense burning sensation.

The boy looked over his shoulder as Flowey held his leaves to his mouth, seeing Toriel at first having a panicked expression. But, it soon turned into that of regret. “My ch-- Oh no!” She rushed over and barely caught Frisk as he was starting to fall. Pain again. Why was there so much pain to endure? His vision went black quickly as Toriel’s and Flowey’s voices were swaying away from his earshot.

But, there was a voice he could hear vividly. “It’s alright. Just try again.”

A sound of a button being pressed echoed through Frisk’s ears. He then found himself in front of Toriel’s house, holding his hand to the star. It seemed the same, so he almost thought that he just imagined what had happened. Until he saw the letters and number that once read ‘LLL: x9’. The letters were the same, but the number was different.

The number was now an eight, causing Frisk to wonder why it changed. He didn’t even notice that the red portion of the necklace was now half gone. He shook his head and glanced to the side as he saw the flower propped next to him. “I’m sorry about that,” Flowey said. “I thought she wouldn’t have noticed.” Frisk smiled and shook his head, telling the flower that it was alright.

Flowey grimaced for a long moment, but straightened back up to look at the human.

His expression softened as he spoke up. “Let’s just… try to ask her this time, okay?” he whispered. “Before you just go downstairs again.” Frisk nodded and walked back into the house, but something seemed different when he shut the door.

Frisk turned to see a light of a candle flickering in the living room. Toriel must have be up now. He walked towards the source of the light, noting a sound. Was she crying? The crying grew louder as he approached the goat monster and placed his hand on her shoulder. She tensed up at the contact as she looked up at the boy, tear stains evident on her face. “O-oh. My child.” the monster woman quickly wiped her eyes and forced a smile. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?” 

Frisk told her no and explained why he was up. ...With only some truths.

Toriel only stared at Frisk with hurt in her eyes, blinking the rest of her tears away. Her eyes darted around frantically. Hurt was replaced with minor anger as she stood up, a fireball slowly appearing in her right hand.

Frisk backed away out of fear and braced himself. But, nothing hit him or ached. Instead, he felt a shaky hand on his shoulder and a barely intelligible voice. “A-are you sure, my child?” Toriel asked with a remorseful tone. Frisk felt a little guilty for springing that on Toriel, but there was an urge to go. He was sure it was not his own. But, he was compelled to go.

The goat monster opened her mouth to say something, but she closed it back up. She understood what was going through his head. She too had that side to her long ago, but it didn’t make it any easier for her.

“If you’re sure, then allow me to gather a few things.”

“Go and wait for me at the door downstairs.”

Frisk watched as Toriel turned before anything could be seen. She disappeared out the room he was in, leaving him to go into the basement.

He did as he was told and carefully stepped on each stair to ensure he didn’t get hurt. Frisk saw a switch to the right of him, which made him angry at himself for not flipping it on. But, he wondered if that would have even mattered.

Frisk walked onward, thankful that the lights were on and that he could see. When he made it to the large door, he heard the shuffling of feet.

Just as he was going to turn around to look at Toriel, she lightly held his shoulder and prevented him from turning. She placed a rather heavy bag around Frisk’s neck, adjusting it at a comfortable length. “Is this too tight, my child?” she asked quietly.

He could tell she still had tears in her eyes as he shook his head and smiled reassuringly. This caused her to turned her head from Frisk, but she hugged him tightly. “If it gets too frantic out there, I will open the door back up,” she whispered. “Just knock three times, pause, then knock a fourth time so I know it’s you.” Frisk lightly patted Toriel’s arms and leaned into her embrace.

He promised that once his curiosity was satisfied, he would be back.

Leaving her and not returning would make him just like his real parents. Frisk didn’t want to do that to Toriel. Not after what she did, even if some of it was forced. She was more mother-like than most of the foster parents he’s been with.

So in a way, he loved her already.

The goat monster sniffled and wiped her eyes of more tears forming. “Very well, my child. But, I do need to tell you one thing,” she whispered to Frisk. “Stay away from the royal guards and the man named Asgore.”

Frisk wasn’t sure what she meant, but he nodded his head anyway.

“Good.” She gave Frisk one final hug before pulling away from him, lightly blowing her nose with a tissue. “Now please go. Before I change my mind.” Toriel turned and hurried away from him, not wanting to let him see her cry.

Frisk frowned as he looked over his shoulder at the fading figure. He did promise to come back, and he didn’t like breaking promises. He made a note in the back of his mind to keep the goat mother in his thoughts. With that in mind, he moved on and went through the door. 

As he walked forward and closed the door behind him, cold chilled his bones and caused a small shiver to run up his spine. The boy heard the crunch of snow as his cheeks were already starting to freeze. It was a familiar feeling. One that made him think of winter time.

Where was this?

**Author's Note:**

> Do expect slowness with this one. I have barely scratched at it.
> 
> My co-creator is working on Apathswap if you'd rather read that instead when it comes out. I only plan on making the Pacifist Route, but they are planning on doing all three routes. So, interested in that, look them up on DeviantArt or Wattpad under PlushVerse. Since I can't put them here.
> 
> OK. I think that's all. Later.


End file.
